Sympathy for the Devil
by ultimatestranger16
Summary: It's been 23 years since he made that promise. Why he keeps it he will never know. But one thing that must never happen, is that they must never meet.


**Preface**

It was a dark and stormy night. I watched her retreating figure in my rearview mirror, keeping watch; just like I'd promised. I don't even know why I still bother. After all It's been 23 years since I'd made that promise. I guess I still kept it up out of respect for her parents. My friends. I guess I also do it because I don't know what she is capable of. I mean, half human-half vampire ain't exactly common. But no matter what happens, we can never meet. Never. I can't and won't risk my safety for her. But of course, I can't stop fate, and fate doesn't seem to like me too much...

**Chapter 1- "Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste..."**

I guess I better tell you who I am, and why I appear to be stalking this woman at 11 o'clock at night. My name is Bryan Burger(I have heard all the jokes), and I'm a vampire, and I've been one for 24 years. Before I was a vampire, I was just your usual average joe working at the local supermarket, with nothing special about me at all. Then I stupidly walked down a dark alley, and I was mugged. I don't really remember much except that I woke up with a new thirst for blood, and was witnessing a fight between two vampires. I was turned by a vampire named Coraline, who was killed in that very same fight by another vampire, who soon became my friend and mentor, Mick St. John. He taught me to control my thirst, and to see that even though I had become a monster, I didn't have to be that way. He helped me to not hate myself, because what had happened to me wasn't my fault. Now Mick had a wife named Beth, and a medical miracle child(and yes, that means she is half vamp, half human), who ironically was named Coraline, after the vamp who turned me. As it turns out, the vamp who turned me was the one who had turned Mick back in the 1950's, and kidnapped Beth when she was little girl, which is what brought Mick and Beth together. Weird, huh? Thankfully, they never called the kid Coraline(except of course when she was in trouble, which didn't happen often). They called her Cory. She was cute as button. She had Mick's hair, but otherwise she looked like a perfect miniature of her mother. She had her mother's blue eyes, her same face, everything. She hadn't really shown any extreme vampire characteristics, she simply had a heightened sense of smell, sight, and hearing. Of course, she was still just a kid, so they still had to be careful, but she was going to preschool, being around people, just like any other kid. Now, this is where the kid comes in. The woman I now follow, the woman I promised to protect, is Cory. Here's what happened.

I had been a vampire for barely a year when it happened. Mick's close friend, Josef Kostan, was having a small birthday party for Cory's fifth birthday. It was me, Mick, Beth, Josef, and, of course, Cory. That's where things went horribly wrong. Someone had a bone to pick with Josef, and chose that night to set his apartment on fire with explosives. Josef was killed instantly. Cory and Mick were okay, but Beth was unconscious and trapped under a beam. Mick told me to take Cory and get out before our exit was blocked off, and that he would get Beth. Mick didn't make it out. The fire department got there, and they managed to get Beth out from under the beam. They said she was covered with ash, which was odd since the fire was still blazing when they got her out. I of course new that the ash was Mick, who had clearly died trying to save her. Beth didn't make it through the night. She regained consciousness momentarily as they were getting her into the ambulance, and she told me to watch over Cory, and to keep her safe. I've done the best that I can.

Cory was placed with her grandmother, and I haven't been to far away. I've watched her grow into the woman that she is now. She's a crime reporter now, just like her mother, which of course puts her more at risk of danger. I don't think that she remembers me, but I don't want to take any chances. You see, unlike Beth, Cory is more ruthless when it comes to getting a story, and she is capable of selling anyone out. So I need to be careful. The existence of vampires is quite an exhausted topic, but if she could find a new angle plus proof, that would mean a Pulitzer for her, and extreme danger for me and the other 200 or so vampires that live in Los Angeles. That is why we can never meet. But like I said, fate has never been kind to me.

So here I am, watching a woman from my car, getting strange looks from the occasional passerby. As I watched Cory, I noticed a couple of big, burly men following her. And then I heard her scream as they grabbed her and pulled her into the dark alleyway. Oh crap.

I rushed out of my car, cursing the fact they had to choose that night to attack her, when I was feeling particularly thirsty. I ran into the alley in time to her her pleas.

"Please," I heard her scream. "How was I supposed to know? Please don't kill me!"

Now, most vampires have super quick reflexes, and mimic Superman as far as being faster than a speeding bullet, but not me. I used to, when Mick was alive, but for some reason, once Cory had been turned over to her grandmother, that super speed and reflexes left. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea. So by the time I rounded the corned of the alley, Cory was no longer the only one screaming, and I was almost knocked over as the would be muggers stampeded past me. Once I got myself together, I saw why.

Cory looked like one of the freakiest vampires I had ever seen with the palest of skin and the longest fangs I had ever set eyes on, but I could hear that she still had a heart beat. Mick told me that when she had been a baby, she had had no thirst for blood, but that as she got older, she liked her red meat cooked rare. Whether she had gained a thirst for blood later in life, I didn't know. She had apparently gained the super reflexes I lacked, because she tried to rush past me. Miraculously I managed to be quick enough to grab her by her jacket and I held her by her arms, with her back against the wall.

"Let go of me!" she cried as she struggled to break free of my grasp. "You don't know what I am!"

"Coraline Bethany Josephine St. John," I said in a firm voice. "I know exactly what you are."

"You know me?" she asked, and stopped struggling.

Her features were going back to normal now, and I was able to get a good look at her for the first time in 23 years. She was absolutely beautiful. Her skin was naturally pale, and she looked like a dark haired version of her mother, which made her piercing blue eyes stand out. I was completely taken aback. This was the little girl that always begged me for a piggyback ride? I could hardly believe it. Had I not just seen her transformation from human to vampire and back again I probably wouldn't have.

"Of course I know you," I said to her, trying to mask my shock. "I knew you when you were only 4 years old. I was a friend of your father's."

"How could you have known me then? My father left me and my mother when I was a baby. When my mother died, I lived with grandmother."

I was shocked. She remembered that little? Not even being able to remember her own father? Her mother even?

"You don't remember?" I said, not bothering to mask the shock this time.

"Remember what?"

"Well, the fire for one thing."

"What fire? What are you talking about?" She was starting to sound annoyed, and the rain was starting to come down harder. I may be immune to such trivial human things such as colds, but Cory wasn't.

"Look, lets get out of the rain first. Then I will explain everything."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Trust me, I could've killed you by now if I really wanted to. You're safe with me."

As she looked at me, I could almost see the argument going on inside her head. On the on hand, she was curious as to how this complete stranger knew her full name, and wanted to know more about her dad. On the other hand, I was a complete stranger who could do some serious damage to her. Curiosity or safety?

"Alright," she said finally, a look of mistrust on her face.

"There's a 24 hour coffee shop down the street. Lets go there."


End file.
